.Dirty Den, 3:27This year I trained hard for the London Marathon, missing just three weeks with a bad ankle injury. I'm 57, and I run with Clowne Road Runners and Worksop Harriers.At 20 miles I was feeling great, enjoying the support and atmosphere
4:00 TO 5:00 (Page 13) Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15Howard Hopkins, 4:06 --I moved to London in 1980 to work for the BBC and watched with awe when the First London Marathon was run the following year. I started training
and then left him in my wake.Snowy389, 3:56What a fantastic day! Beautiful weather, superb crowds.This was my second marathon. I did it once for the experience in 1999, but trained harder and followed so much RW advice this time. You can't imagine how much
running hasn’t been so bad even taking my winter injuries into account. I’ve taken part in two marthons, London (for which I only had eight weeks of training) and four weeks later, Halstead. I thoroughly enjoyed both events. I’ve broken a string of PBs
't have everything. Oh, and there's the failure by South Eastern trains to anticipate the slight extra demand the event would place on their "service".Running across Tower Bridge, at which point the realisation dawned on me that I was running in the London
is a totally overwhelming and humbling experience. The crowd numbers and support are absolutely AWESOME and the whole event gets under your skin. I never tire of playing the video; I smile, I choke back tears, my skin tingles. In fact my very unwelcome
and a PA system playing music and chat. I decided I ought to queue up for a toilet, which took up 45 of my 60 minutes, but was well worth it. If you haven't run in a mass-participation event before it's hard to describe what it feels like. The pace
on the grass in the sunshine in the park with a medal round my neck!The lows? I’m trying hard to forget them, actually…..Frankie Phillips, 5:27 As a complete newbie to running, having only run two miles this time last year, I can't believe that I actually
the winter clothes I had run in all through my training, and not have to panic about running the marathon in brand-new (and therefore likely to be highly chaffing) shorts and vest! Oh, and a gold star goes to the masseuse at the SPARKS hospitality event. She
, surrounded by cheers... Worst moment: realising that my legs were going at 13 miles, due to not being able to stock up on carbs. Damn tummy bug! Scary, though...What I've learnt: running without your training partner is hard, but mental strength can get you
